The 5th time is the charm: on the summit of the Taillefer at last

        Last weekend I finally settled a score that has been a thorn in my side since 2009. The Taillefer, at 9,374' and located within a half hour's drive of Grenoble city limits, is not a coveted test-piece of high technical difficulty. It is a classic, frequented and moderate summit that constitutes a bread and butter outing for Grenoblois skiers. It's a little bit long to get all the way to summit (about 5,500' of vertical and 5-6 miles), and there is a short passage of 45° terrain at the Pas de la Mine (see map), but there is nothing show stopper about the regular route. Olivier would say "ça passe à vélo" and indeed he has mountain biked to summit, although this feat remains somewhat exceptional. 

         Fate, or perhaps I should say the regional bus service, brought the Taillefer and I together during my first stint in Grenoble studying abroad in 2009. Eager for public transport-accessible ski touring, the Taillefer represented one of my only options for a weekend mission. As the suite of successive failures recounted below will show, over the past five years the Taillefer for me has become an haut-lieu of learning, frustration and humility... 

Olivier and I topping out the Petit Taillefer, photo by Hillary.

A SUITE OF FAILURES (see map below)

(1) January 2009. My opening encounter with the Taillefer. Cédric Godefroy (friend of Christophe's) pulled the map out at the bar and naturally I was stoked. The next morning we took the tram, then the bus, stashed our street shoes at the "départ" and we were off. Pea soup fog and having no idea where we were prompted a turn-around somewhere below the Pas de la Mine at around 2500m. 

(2) February 2009. Friends of my brother's, Derek and Lindsey, stopped into my tiny basement studio in Grenoble as part of a 3-month ski trip in the Alps. They came out from Washington state with dreams of heady ski mountaineering but alas equipped with plastic soled alpine boots and no crampons or ice axes. I still feel terrible about swiping Jean Mi's antique wooden ice axe from his storage bin without asking, and then seeing the look on his face when Derek thanked him profusely for lending it the following night. Regardless, after failure #1 I knew that taking the bus from Grenoble and trying the Taillefer as a day trip wasn't going to go, and so we headed up the day before, rented a room in town of la Morte and set alarms for ass early the next morning. We proceeded to get passed by Grenoble retirees (who admittedly are super fit) all morning on the skin track. Derek and I managed to cross the Pas de la Mine before perfect weather and ideal snow conditions forced us to turn back. 

(3) March 2009. Hillary came out to Grenoble during her spring break, which all Taillefer anecdotes aside was the best. The day after her arrival, and for her third or fourth ski tour of all time on borrowed Middlebury Freeheelers gear, with all the Alps at our fingertips I thought it would be good idea to go back to the Taillefer. Fortunately Hillary was easily impressed and she found the bus ride to the trailhead to be spectacular. This time I planned to to assure success by staying at the Cabane de Brouffier hut located almost at the half way point. I told her that in the Alps you don't need to carry a thermarest because of the well-equipped huts. It turns out nobody stays at the Cabane de Brouffier and the place resembled a bombed out cement bunker more than a mountain refuge, and without mattresses we spent the night sleeping on a hard floor with gore tex zippers digging into our sides. Then, still jet lagged, Hillary used ski crampons for the first time before we laid to siege to the Pas de la Mine using a rope and snow pickets. We nonetheless had a beautiful traverse of the Petit Taillefer and sunny picnic at the Col du Grand Van at the foot of the summit cone before bus schedules forced a turn around. 

(4) February 2013. Hillary and I were looking for a long, not-too-steep tour to and from a beautiful summit: why not the south face of the Taillefer? Surely after all our grand adventures this summit would pose no difficulty and would affirm all our progress and growth as backcountry skiers since 2009. What's more, Olivier had done the south face in 3 hours by himself -- how could we miss? As we thrashed through cliff-ridden slide alder at the horribly low altitude of 1400m, knowledge of Olivier's feat only added to an overwhelming sense of frustration and hopelessness. With no way forward apparent and everything in question, Hillary and I exchanged unkind words before turning around and skiing back through the schwack with skins still on (failure 4a). At that point it was 9:30am, and we decided to head further up the valley and try the next drainage over. We did another 900' of vertical of heinous, impenetrable bushwacking before emerging into the alpine basin just as the sun swung behind the Grand Armet across the way and cast the valley into shadow. No sunny picnic for us. We took skins off this time and schussed back to the car with tails decidedly between our legs (failure 4b). Hillary, who had mentioned a sore throat the night before, now felt terrible and opted to sleep in the car for two hours while I went to the nearby ski area and tried to ski out my frustration. 

(5) April 2013. Honestly, I regret not inviting Ian and Hillary to come with Olivier and me on last weekend's outing. Especially after what we did this weekend in les Ecrins (post forthcoming) we clearly could have done the tour as a unit. As it happened Olivier and I left earlier with our sights on the summit and Hill and Ian got a later start with the goal of having a casual day out and skiing the Crête de Brouffier. With Olivier all the failures dissipated and nothing seemed hard -- we avoided the Pas de la Mine by taking a more direct couloir (see photo) and after a bonus pitch of corn from the Petit Taillefer proceeded without difficulty to the summit. Then we added an out and back to the Pyramide (9,314') for good measure. After standing atop the Taillefer for the second time that day (yes!), descent down the north combe made for a spectacular day out with over 15 miles of distance and 7200' of vertical. Rising temps and receding snow might force us to wait until next season, but clearly Hill and I owe ourselves a return visit.

Here is a link to Olivier's account of the day, en français bien sûr